A Husband’s Responsibilities

Southland Times, Issue 14332, 28 April 1899, Page 2

A Husband’s Responsibilities

(By Telegraph.) Wellington, April 27. _ Judge Edwards to-day gave judgment in the divorce case Dawson v. Dawson, which His Honour recently heard when on circuit at Hokitika. The case presented peculiar circumstances. The petitioner claimed that his wife passed a week in the hut of the co-respondent and that she committed adultery. His Honour said that ordinarily, the fast that a married woman passed a week in a hut, containing one room only, with a man not her husband, must lead to the conclusion thab she was guilty of adultery, but bhe oirsumstanoes in this case were extraordinary. The evidence showed that for some time prior to September, 1897, the respondent had given way to intemperance, and that the petitioner took no means to secure her safety. His Honour was satisfied thab if anything improper took place in the but the woman was not in a fit state to be conscious of it, and that her husbaud left her there with the hope and intention that she would commit adultery and furnish him with the means of procuring a divorc If adultery had been proved the petitioner must have been held to have connived at it. The petition was dismissed, with costs as between the petitioner and the respondent as between solicitor and client, to be taxed by the Registrar. £25 was allowed to the co-respondent, with costs and all court fees and witnesses’ expenses.